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January 19, 2008 |

So the John Harbaugh era has begun. From the few minutes that we were able to spend with him after the press conference, he is a very likeable and engaging guy to talk to about football and has a real passion to win. I think the Ravens made a good hire yesterday, now only time will tell how that plays out on the football field, but for now it looks like they may have made the coaching hire of the off season.

Here are some things that stuck out to me today. It seemed odd to me for some reason that everyone was lobbying for Rex Ryan to get the Falcons job, now that could be so they can see him grow as a coach, or maybe it is because they do not want to have to face the situation of hiring a defensive coordinator while sending Rex on his way. It will be interesting to see how the Ron Rivera situation plays out depending on how the Chargers do tomorrow. Three different people in the organization said they “hope Rex gets the Falcons gig”, just for you know what’s, Rex was in the building today.

One of the other things that I heard from people in the organization is that Harbaugh will “listen to our suggestions”, which one person told me would be a welcome change. Now that could be an indictment of Brian Billick and maybe part of why he is no longer here.

Marty and Brian Schottenheimer basically wiped each other out in the coaching search. Marty did not want to interview if Brian was a candidate and Brian said the same about his father. Now Brian was the next guy up in line had things not worked out with John Harbaugh.

John sort of hinted today that he is looking for a guy on the offensive that has done it before. To me that is maybe a small indication that he maybe working the phone with Malcom “Cam” Cameron.

No one in Owings Mills is upset at Jason Garrett for what he did. Several people indicated today that Garrett and Harbaugh were neck and neck and a couple of people in the room like Harbaugh more than Garrett. The Ravens pretty much knew all along that Jason was going to go back to Jerry Jones and give him the last chance to persuade him to stay. They all knew he would leave Baltimore, go to Atlanta, and then to Dallas. No one was shocked and no one got their feelings hurt.

John will not be traveling to the Senior Bowl to evaluate anyone with the Ravens brass, he will stay back in Baltimore and continue to put his staff together and plan for the upcoming camps. The scouting department will report back to John as to who they like and give him their reports.

I am not sure what is going to happen, but Harbaugh referenced that they are “shoulder deep” in the quarterback situation. Now could that mean that we are going to see the same three guys next year, could they be drafting a quarterback, or could someone in the league be coming to Baltimore ? There is some buzz that a certain quarterback that is on a playoff team could be looking to go some were where he can have a legit chance to start. I am not saying that it is going to happen or if this player does leave that he could be coming here, but there is some buzz.